M.A.S.K. S1E03

The Book of Power

Synopsis

A gloved hand lifts the Book of Power from under a glowing alarm outline.

V.E.N.O.M. steals the Book of Power, the key to the lost city of Mong Paco and its jewel-covered idol. Dusty recovers it and delivers it to Matt in a pizza box, but the gang has hidden a tracker in the binding and attacks Boulder Hill before withdrawing. Scott falls into a trance over the book and leaves with T-Bob, and both teams follow the signal into a hollow mountain full of traps. Scott is found safe among the monks of Mong Paco, who have long searched for the book, and T-Bob stumbles onto the idol.

Memorable Quotes

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mask.toys Episode Review

How do you hand a stolen artifact to your boss while a visitor from the museum world is standing in the room? In The Book of Power the answer is a pepperoni pizza box, and the episode gets more mileage out of the gag than it does out of the lost city. Dusty arrives with a pizza, the visitor leaves, and the team, left alone with the box, discovers that the thing V.E.N.O.M. wanted was never the pizza. It is a pleasing piece of low comedy, and it sets the tone for an episode that prefers a funny solution to a loud one.

The rest of the setup moves briskly. V.E.N.O.M. has stolen the key to Mong Paco, a vanished city whose jewel-covered idol is said to stand over three stories tall and to protect the city with moving traps; the optical scanner explains the legend, and the analyzer finds a tracking device sealed into the binding. By the time the team sorts it out, V.E.N.O.M. is already approaching Boulder Hill, M.A.S.K. goes to defense mode, and the attackers withdraw for reasons the team cannot explain.

The idea that carries the episode is that everyone in it is following something they do not control. V.E.N.O.M. follows the tracker, M.A.S.K. follows the tracker's signal and a recording that shows Scott in a trance, Scott follows the book, which has put him in that trance, and the monks inside the mountain have been searching for their lost city for centuries, with the book said to be the key. It is a good device because it keeps both teams moving across the same ground at once; one side hunts a boy, the other hunts a book, and the boy is the one who has already been led to the answer.

The animation earns its keep in the temple. The trap sequences are staged with some relish: a spiked ceiling hangs over a corridor where an agent in yellow runs through a burst of sparks, a pile of agents tumbles down a cave, and another leaps over water pouring from the mouth of a stone idol. M.A.S.K. splits up to try each passage, a voice mutters that it knew it would be something like this, and Backlash is called on to clear the way. The dialogue gets its jokes in even under pressure, and the computer's flat recitation of the personnel files is back again, reassuringly, before the mission starts.

The standout is the reveal inside the mountain. Scott, found at last, has a new friend in a robed man, and the dialogue gets a small laugh out of a monkey-versus-monk mix-up. The monks have been searching for their lost city for centuries; the book was the key they could not read, and when Scott flipped through its pages it put him in a trance and led him here. They express their gratitude with a courtesy that stands out from the villains' banter, and the scene gives the episode a warmth that the chase sequences do not.

The weakness is the explanation that follows. Asked how a rock slide came down on the road earlier in the day, the monks say the others loosened the boulder, which turns a mystery the episode had been building, a robed figure who keeps turning up in the street, on the desert road and in the canyon, into a one-sentence answer. It is a shame, because the staged mystery was part of the fun. The finale then slides into a joke: T-Bob finds the idol, the legend says the finder becomes the ruler, and the episode shrugs.

As the third episode of the run it is a cheerful adventure with a clever object at its centre. The book gets the best treatment in the episode, and the monks, for once, get more than a cameo.

Notes of Interest

  1. The M.A.S.K. wiki says the music associated with the monks of Mong Paco is a partial reuse, by composers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, of their Arabian Desert theme from Inspector Gadget.
  2. The M.A.S.K. wiki notes that the jeep Dusty uses to deliver pizzas resembles Gator but lacks the Electric Ouch cannon and the railing it mounts on.
  3. According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, Matt Trakker appears in his Rhino uniform and Ultra Flash mask for the first time during the Boulder Hill battle, then changes to his Thunderhawk outfit and Spectrum mask for the mission itself.
  4. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a continuity slip: every agent wears a mask during the defense of Boulder Hill, but afterwards they sit down at the conference table and charge up their masks before leaving.
  5. The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a Golden Books coloring book called The Book of Power and a 1986 Knight Books paperback adaptation, written by Kenneth Harper and Bruce Hogarth and numbered 04 in its series.
  6. The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Doug Stone and Brendan McKane with monk roles alongside their main parts, and Mark Halloran with the museum curator.

Characters in this episode

Full roster →

Matt Trakker

Dusty Hayes

Hondo MacLean

Alex Sector

Bruce Sato

Brad Turner

Buddie Hawks

Miles Mayhem

Cliff Dagger

Sly Rax

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Episode screenshots

The Book of Power sits inside a glass case outlined on a stone table.
The Book of Power sits inside a glass case outlined on a stone table.
Miles Mayhem stands between two masked V.E.N.O.M. agents in a dim chamber.
A robed guard with a face wrap holds a carved staff before a brick wall.
A black van sits on a city street beside a small parked motorbike.
The robed guard stands alone in a city street with cars parked nearby.
The robed guard grips his staff on a street corner, a red car behind him.
The robed guard leans on his staff, face wrapped inside a hood.
Cliff Dagger drives the van with Miles Mayhem sitting beside him.
The black van drives along a rocky desert road past the robed guard's trailing robe.
The robed guard stands in a rocky canyon with mountains behind him.
The robed guard stands in a rocky canyon with mountains behind him.
A boulder crashes down onto the black van in the canyon.
The black van speeds down the canyon road as rocks tumble around it.
A red-haired man in a purple shirt grips a seat inside a vehicle.
A hand picks the Book of Power up off the rocky ground.
Miles Mayhem looks out through the van window with Cliff Dagger beside him.
A black car approaches a red-roofed manor across a green lawn.
Scott Trakker kneels beside T-Bob outside the manor as an orange jeep passes.
Hands open a yellow box marked with a red circle among stacked boxes.
A man carries a yellow box under his arm beside another man in a blue jacket.
A man in a purple shirt faces a control wall holding a yellow package.
A man in a purple shirt faces a control wall holding a yellow package.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand by a metal door looking to one side.
A monitor screen shows a stepped stone temple on a hill.
A rotating wireframe box with labeled notes fills the monitor.
A man in a green suit sits at a restaurant table with a sandwich.
The man in the green suit checks his wristwatch while holding a sandwich.
A blue screen shows outlines of a figure, a red mask and two faces.
A man on a ladder works near a model helicopter and tank in a cluttered workshop.
A blue screen shows a second figure, a mask and two face portraits.
A blue screen shows a figure in a cap with a mask and two capped portraits.
A man in a red cap washes a brown car in a garage.
A man in a red cap washes a brown car in a garage.
Two men walk past a glass-topped vehicle in a hangar seen from above.
Scott Trakker stands with hands on hips beside T-Bob in a metal corridor.
Miles Mayhem grips a lever in a cockpit.
Seven M.A.S.K. agents stand at a control room window facing a grid screen.
A group of M.A.S.K. agents stand together, looking up at a screen.
The agents watch a helicopter and vehicles over the desert through the big window.
Two tall white and blue towers stand on a flat desert.
A white domed building sits at the foot of a rocky cliff.
A dark blue and red jet flies low over sand dunes.
Two agents at a control console watch a vehicle on a large screen.
Two agents at a control console watch a vehicle on a large screen.
Pink beams streak past the white building under the cliff.
A jet's red wingtip cuts through a yellow dust cloud.
Empty blue sky sits above a sandy cliff ridge.
A control console with grid and screens sits empty in the control room.
A hand holds the open Book of Power showing strange diagrams.
Scott Trakker stares ahead in a pale glowing light.
T-Bob looks worried and raises one arm.
A gloved hand pushes a lever into a dark slot.
Miles Mayhem sits in a red vehicle cockpit gripping the controls.
Miles Mayhem sits in a red vehicle cockpit gripping the controls.
Fire burns among ruined stone gateway pillars.
A M.A.S.K. agent pulls on a red mask with a grille.
An agent holds a yellow helmet while a masked agent stands behind him in a cockpit.
Burned tree trunks stand on a sandy slope at dusk.
Scott Trakker rides a small motorcycle toward twisted dead trees.
A cave entrance with steps sits in a golden cliff.
Scott Trakker pushes T-Bob in wheel mode along the canyon path.
T-Bob walks toward the camera along the canyon path.
Scott Trakker climbs steps toward a cave mouth in the rock.
A hand rests on the Book of Power on a cave floor beside a tiny toy car.
A hand rests on the Book of Power on a cave floor beside a tiny toy car.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob walk through a cave with stalagmites.
Scott Trakker points down the road while T-Bob stands by the house.
Scott Trakker sits on T-Bob in wheel mode outside the house.
Boulder Hill's gas station front sits against a patterned cliff wall.
Agents sit around a round table in a control room as one man stands at the console.
Scott Trakker studies a book at a control console beside T-Bob.
A blond agent sits at the table beside a dark-haired man in a brown jacket.
Agents sit around the round table seen from above.
A tall metal column with ladder rungs and rings runs up a shaft.
An agent in an orange suit pulls on an orange mask.
An agent in an orange suit pulls on an orange mask.
A red sports car and Rhino sit in a garage bay beside a figure in yellow.
A white pickup truck with orange stripes sits in the garage.
Three V.E.N.O.M. agents stand in a stone chamber while Miles Mayhem scratches his head.
Rhino drives across white desert flats.
A bearded man in a visored helmet studies a grid screen.
Rhino sits in a canyon with a red car and a white pickup beside it.
A masked agent in a red and silver helmet grips a steering wheel.
A masked agent steps out beside an orange jeep.
A dark carved stone tower rises at night with vehicles at its base.
Matt Trakker stands masked beside a bearded man and a goggled man in a brown jacket.
Matt Trakker stands masked beside a bearded man and a goggled man in a brown jacket.
Seven agents walk across a stone floor in a temple chamber.
A fallen masked agent lies in rubble beside a rock slab.
Sparks fly off a masked agent's helmet as he lies in the dust.
Matt Trakker walks forward with a bearded man and other agents behind him.
A red-gloved arm hangs beside a bearded man in a white jacket.
Eight M.A.S.K. agents scatter across a stone floor as one in yellow raises his hands.
Orange sparks burst around a post under a spiked ceiling.
An agent in yellow runs past a hole in the wall under a spiked ceiling.
Agents crowd around a fallen figure in white and red on the stone floor.
Agents crowd around a fallen figure in white and red on the stone floor.
Agents stand together on a stone balcony below a domed ceiling.
Two V.E.N.O.M. agents run down steps with M.A.S.K. agents far behind them.
A tumbling pile of agents falls through a cave, an orange-suited one in front.
Matt Trakker crawls across the cave floor with another agent behind him.
A yellow-suited agent leaps over water spouting from a stone idol's mouth.
Miles Mayhem sits in a cockpit with his visor down.
A goggled man drives an orange and red truck seen head-on.
An orange-masked agent grips the steering wheel.
Rhino pulls up in a dark cave.
An agent in yellow sits beside a green motorcycle.
An agent in yellow sits beside a green motorcycle.
Miles Mayhem raises two fingers from his cockpit seat.
Matt Trakker turns to look to one side, red scarf around his neck.
Matt Trakker points forward with his red glove.
Scott Trakker stands with a robed guard's hand on his shoulder as T-Bob waits.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand with a bearded robed elder as agents look on.
Matt Trakker and other masked agents look on in a stone chamber.
Robed guards stand in a row on a stone ledge.
A goggled man, a robed elder, Scott Trakker and a masked agent face each other in a cave.
T-Bob stares up at a carved staff head.
T-Bob runs holding a staff toward Scott Trakker, who reaches out.
T-Bob runs holding a staff toward Scott Trakker, who reaches out.
Scott Trakker swings a long staff toward a stone stairway.
Robed guards stand in line on a ledge beside a carved pillar.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand on a stone floor looking up.
Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand surrounded by robed guards.
Two masked M.A.S.K. agents look across a brick wall.
Robed guards, agents, Scott Trakker and T-Bob gather on an amber floor.
Miles Mayhem grips twin control sticks in a cockpit.
A red car parks in front of a tall cream building.
Scott Trakker sits in a car beside Matt Trakker, who looks out the window.

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